We waited until the very last minute to dress Olivia in her Christmas best. The weather as predicted was NASTY up until Saturday.

Saturday morning looked to be pretty good although it was overcast and sort of cool. Rain on and rain off, a little wind.

We went over to the Wal Mart and bought something like a hundred and fifty dollars worth of lights and decorations. I brought the 1700 watt generator from the house to power the whole mess. The hardest part of the decorating was lifting up the big mass of lights on the main halyard in order to create the "Christmas Tree" lights. It took two tries before we figured out that we needed to lift and seperate (sort of like the old living bra commercial), but we finally managed to get them skyward. Same with the lights on the forestay. Fortunately David showed up and lent a hand. I had promised him that I'd help move his boat over to its new mooring across the bay, but the tide didn't cooperate, never rising above the oyster line on the  pilings, so he was unable to get outside.

We spent the rest of the day dressing the boat.

At 1630 there was a manditory Captains meeting at White Sands restaurant, going over for the final time, the routine. All boats keep  300 foot spacing, monitor VHF channel 68, parade individually in front of the judging area, turning 360 degrees port, line up afterward for the grand exit out of the fingers and over to outdoor resorts, back under the causeway, over to the island, to Louies than back to Port Isabel blah, blah, blah.

After the meeting, we went back to the boat and fired up the Westerbeke, letting it warm up for about twenty minutes before shutting down till just before the event. We also checked the lights for the first time with the generator, all seemed to be working well.....but since I had never loaded up the generator with that much draw at once, I though maybe we better douse the whole thing until just before time to go, and turned off the powerstrip. When I did I heard an odd sound, so I switched the whole thing back on and OH LORD, NO!, only one string of lights came back on. Great. I could just envision pulling up in front of the judges with one string on, shouting, "well, it's the thought that counts....Merry Christmas!".

David and I frantically started looking for an alternate mother lode-plug plugging and unplugging various connections and cords, and finally found the special one on the starboard liferail, hastily plugging into it and getting about 90 percent of the lights.... Too late to mess with anything else......

Since I was the event MC, I hurridly changed clothes and sped over to White Sands again, where the judging and event were centered. And just in time too. 6 minutes to showtime. I could see Olivia in her slip, lights glowing, and I held my breath praying that she'd stay that way at least till judgement hour.

And then the boats started coming, and in a complex dance as each one took center stage. Alternating between VHF radio and PA microphone I worked the crowd. More than once, in the excitement I called for boats on the PA and did the MC thing on the VHF, much to the amusement of both crowd and participant.  

Knowing most of the owners, I told the crowd a little about each one, as they showed their elaborate decorations and I also kept an eye on Olivia as she continued to glow, lighting up her slip.

Finally I called her out the last boat, and David deftly danced her in front of the judges. I had an ear to ear grin as I bade the crowd goodbye handing the microphone to Betty Wells waving and stepping over Olivias liferails on the bow as David nudged her near the dock.

We did it!

Onboard Dee, the twins, David, Reny and Amy greeted me, all talking excitedly about the moments before....

Backing down, we assumed our place in line, second to the last (the last boat being the towboat), and eased out of the harbor in full parade mode. The night was cool and a bit wet, winds whispering lightly from the north. Throughout the fingers people crowded their patios, docks and all open spaces partying, cheering and hollering.

We waved proudly.

Outside marker 17 we turned south and followed the parade. Night Magic had slipped in line behind us, but was unlit for the moment.

We traveled across the bay, under the causeway and through the open swing bridge, which was also crowded with people. It seemed as if all of Port Isabel had turned out for the event. People crowded the shoreline, the sea cottages at outdoor resorts and Port Isabel South Shore, all cheering and waving. Night Magic turned on his generator, and we passed port to port, saluting each other. It was a surreal scene as we turned around in the black night near Southpoint and headed back out the swing bridge to the bay.

Into weather was a bit rougher, but not a whole lot as we plowed back towards the causeway overpass heading east towards the Island. Nearing the turn to Thompkins channel, I began to get a bit edgy knowing that besides being poorly marked, there is a shoaling problem about a quarter mile north.

Night Magic turned and headed north, and we prepared to do the same, Dee on the foredeck all eyes watching into the black. Of course the Q beam was dead, and the markers had no lights. Sure enough, we spot Night Magic emerging in the black, mast at about 20 degrees to the starboard, hard aground on the inches deep spoil on the channels east side.

Right then and there I decide, screw it, I'm heading home, so I spun Olivia around and called on the VHF informing the parade that we're bailing and we start chugging west towards Port Isabel.

David pours a couple of drams of Tullamore Dew (to ward off the night chill), and I kick back at the controls, steering with my foot until we near 17 and I slow her down, rounding the post into the channel and gliding past the entrance, down the fingers, lights still burning heading back to the slip, where we tie off without incident.

We secure all systems, stow a few things, close the boat down and go to the Pizza Joint for some well deserved beers and food. The decorations can wait a day or so to come down.

Here's a link to the event itself, complete with photos of all of the boats and winners